Post-walk Newfies

Even at 5:30am, it is still a little warm to walk the Newfies. 

Newfie vs. Rottweiler

Thatcher and cousin Blaise (my sister's dog) have become pretty even-matched competitors in the game "fetch". Newfies are not known for their speed, and Blaise is a petite, agile Rottweiler. She's quick like a cheetah and can outrun Thatcher nine times out of ten. But Thatcher has one strength that Blaise lacks - he watches where you are throwing the ball. Blaise gets so excited with the anticipation of the chase that she forgets to keep an eye out on what direction you're launching the ball in. She usually sprints ahead, then remembers to look for the ball. Thatcher, on the other hand, holds off on his full gallop until he sees which way your arm is pointing towards. The ironic part is that unless both dogs are chasing the ball, neither is. Whenever I try playing fetch with Thatcher alone, or even Thatcher and Boden together, he gets bored after a few tosses. Thatcher and Blaise thrive on trying to beat each other, and can keep going dozens of times when together. Poor Boden is neither fast enough or focused enough to stand a chance with either of the older dogs, so we play a little game of mini-fetch with him on the side between tosses for Thatcher and Blaise.

The aftermath

Grass in the desert

With monsoon season and the little bouts of rain we've been getting, something delightful has happened in our backyard: a tiny section of grass sprouted up. It's scraggly and thin, but it is a definite greenish patch of grass. I thought the Newfies would appreciate it more than I do, but they just keep going over and chomping away at it. They seriously will not stop eating it. I can't understand why they want to eat such a precious commodity. I would love to plant grass in our whole backyard, but it's so dry that it would likely quadruple our water bill to try and keep the grass watered. For now, we'll just have to settle for the sad little patch we have that we're stuck sharing with every single insect in the yard.

That's basically all the excitement around here except for yet another health concern with the Newfies - this time Boden. Last Friday I came home from work and Boden was limping pretty badly. I felt his leg, from his shoulder to his paw, and can't seem to find where the pain is coming from. He's pretty clumsy, especially with the slippery tile in our house, so I decided to wait it out a couple of days and see if it improves. In the meantime, I've been excluding him from our daily walks. I have to admit, walking just Thatcher is so much easier than walking both dogs at the same time. He just happily meanders alongside of me, content to be an only dog for these 20 minute outings. Boden is a mess when we have to leave him behind, but I don't want to risk making his leg worse. I'm giving it another couple of days, but I've scheduled a vet appointment for later this week just in case. Once again, I find myself wondering how people with kids do it. Every time I get one dog all taken care of, something happens to the next!